George John Bennett

George John Bennett (1800–1879) was for nearly 40 years a Shakespearian actor on the London stage, notably Covent Garden and Drury Lane.

He was the son of the eminent popular comedian George Bennett and Harriet Morland, the daughter of an ancient family in Westmorland (parents: Jacob Morland of Killington, Dorothy Brisco of Kendal, and sister, Lady Shackerley of Somerford Hall). Both parents acted for the Norwich Company of Comedians. He was born in Ripon in Yorkshire on 9 March 1800. At the age of 18, he acted at the Lynn Theatre in Norfolk under the management of Messrs. Elliston and John Brunton.

From the Lynn theatre, he went to the Theatre at Newcastle, where he played with great success under the eminent tragedian Macready. After two years of wandering from theatre to theatre, from Richmond to North and South Shields, his popularity increasing wherever he went, he finally settled in the York circuit, where his reputation as an actor was permanently confirmed. He remained there under the management firstly of Mrs. Mansell and next of Mrs. Fitzgerald.

While on the York circuit, and after having received numerous invitations from other companies, he decided, in 1820, to join the Bath Company. This Theatre was the provincial school of histrionic art, and to any actor of ability, at once assured an eventual London engagement. In 1822, he made his first appearance on the London boards, at the Covent Garden Theatre, having selected the part of Richard III for his debut. In this role, however, his success, though unequivocal, did not meet his admirers’ expectations. Unfortunately for Bennett, Edmund Kean had already made the part of Richard very much his own, and the crowds were not ready to accept a new Richard; even William Macready had struggled to convince the audience in this part.

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